Getting Started
Wayward is a difficult, daunting survival game with a potentially steep learning curve that can make it difficult for new players to grasp. From the get-go, hostile monsters, such as Giant Spiders and Giant Rats can spawn, hunting down the player. Without most the game's important tools, it is entirely possible you could be injuring your hands trying to break things, even to the point of bleeding and death. Luckily, the game kindly provides a starting quest, but even then new players may be stuck on where to go from there. Don't be afraid to die often! Wayward isn't easy, and many parts of your starting point are determined at random. Practice makes perfect, and sometimes that can't even help the fact the world is pitted against you. Experiment, and work efficiently, and you'll have a decent chance of survival. The UI The basic UI of the game consists of a collection of icons at the top of the screen and several status bars in the upper left corner. Top Icons There are 13 icons at the top of the screen that open or close various windows and menus. Each option also has a keyboard hotkey assigned by default. Status Bars Several status trackers detailing basic information sit next to each of the bars. Hovering over any of these indicators provides a more detailed description as well as the attribute that determines their maximum values. * The red bar indicates the player's Health - when this hits 0, the player dies. * The green bar indicates how much Stamina the player has. Nearly everything you do in the game costs stamina - if this hits zero, you become exhausted and take damage for every stamina-costing task. * The purple bar indicates Hunger, which ticks down on an interval and is replenished by Food. * The blue bar indicates Thirst, which ticks down faster than hunger and is mainly replenished by Water. * The number next to the health bar indicates the player's Reputation, which is affected by skill-based tasks and affects the world's difficulty. * The numbers next to the stamina bar indicate the player's Strength or carry weight, shown as current weight/maximum. * The numbers next to the hunger bar indicate the attack rating of each hand (left/right). * The number next to the thirst bar indicates the player's armor rating. Starting Inventory The player spawns in with a small supply of starter items. A Tattered Shirt, a pair of Tattered Pants, at least one Container full of Liquid, a Sharpened, and a Leaf Bedroll are guaranteed to generate. The rest of the player's inventory is largely random, with a few specifics: * A handful of basic seeds, such as Milk Thistle, Chives, Beggarticks, and Cotton * Some food * 1-2 low-level tools * A small bag (on occasion) * A random Book or scroll, which may or may not contain information * Several random, basic resources, such as bark, rocks, and branches. It doesn't hurt to read that book right away, nor does it hurt to organize your tools. Tools can be dragged to the hotbar for quick usage or equipped to a hand for auto-gathering or weapon use. A great item to have off the bat is a Wooden Pole, which will be a godsend. Wooden poles can be used as a multi-purpose substitute for any gather tasks you can do with your bare hands (namely woodcutting and mining) while protecting them from damage. Starting Out The island that the player spawns in is randomly generated. Actions that the player takes will affect their Reputation. Acts of kindness such as taming, fishing, or botany add benignity and decrease the difficulty, while acts of aggression such as lumberjacking, mining, or combat add malignity and increase the difficulty. By default, everything in the game in single-player mode is turn-based, meaning that time passes as the player acts. This allows the player to think carefully about each step of their journey. For new players, this setting is easier than the real-time mode, as it means hostile monsters can't advance on the player unexpectedly. Your First Day Generally, on the first day, the two main goals are to gather basic materials and find somewhere to make a base. A base will have the supplies to keep your thirst need in check; for now, hunting and foraging is a sufficient solution for hunger, which ticks down slower. Also, a base will provide shelter from hostile monsters, allowing you to sleep undisturbed by their movement so long as you are far enough away. Gathering Resources Remember the wooden pole from earlier? As said before, wooden poles are extremely versatile tools. You can gather all you need with them - but wouldn't it make more sense to get more wooden poles first? If you don't have a wooden pole, you can dismantle a branch using your sharpened rock or shale. First, find a tree - the easiest way here is to find a dead tree without any leaves. Equip the pole to your active hand (which can be toggled in the equipment window) or drag it to your hotbar, then start hacking away at the tree. You should obtain several logs and more branches, which in turn, can also be dismantled for more wooden poles, bark, and leaves. Don't worry if your sharpened rock eventually breaks, because you can gather more rocks with poles. Make sure to re-equip new poles when the previous one breaks, or else you might injure your hands by accident. Also, start crafting some string, which is made from cordage like bark shavings. String is a requirement for a set of stone tools, which become available when you gather enough stone. The best way to start is by digging into a large mountain. Some good tools to have this early in the game would be a Stone Pickaxe, Stone Axe, and a Hand Drill or Fire Plough. Other good tools include a Stone Hammer, for repairing any of these tools, and a Stone Hoe, which will be important for keeping your reputation up. Keeping the Beasts at Bay By now, you might've encountered a monster, such as a Giant Rat, Giant Spider, or a Claw Worm. Unlike other creatures you encounter, monsters constantly pursue you as long as they can see you. You can kite and avoid monsters for as long as possible. Firstly - never walk into the path of a monster. If you keep going in the opposite direction that the creature is in, eventually their random direction AI will create distance between you and them. From there, you can loop around to where you were before, continue doing your business until the monster gets close, and then flee again. Another obvious option would be to kill the monster, putting the nuisance to an end once and for all. The giant spider is the only monster of the three that is weak to blunt damage - giant rats are resistant, and claw worms are unchanged. Wooden poles should dispatch spiders easily. Rats and claw worms are both weak to fire damage, but switching to an axe to kill them is fine as well. Despite the apparent reputation loss from attacking a creature, carving the corpse of a monster with a sharpened rock actually increases your benignity. This doesn't apply to passive creatures, so for food, it's better to hunt hostile monsters for your reputation. If a monster tears you open and you start bleeding, don't worry! Tourniquets are easy to craft with poles and string. Otherwise, your Tattered Shirt or Tattered Pants can be dismantled for cloth in a pinch, which can be crafted into bandages. If a giant spider bites you and inflicts you with poison... good luck! Digging up plants (not trees) can yield plant roots (or alternatively, you can use joshua tree flowers), which can be crafted with a water container to make Medicinal Water. Making Your First Base To elaborate on why digging into a mountain is a good idea - most likely, your first base won't be a house. Unless you find a naturally-generating building that doesn't have skeletal remains in them, the effort it takes to make a house on the first night is wasteful. It is important to build a door as soon as you can - dismantling one of your wooden poles and harvesting another tree's logs provides the resources to craft one. One of the most dangerous things is waking up to a monster one step from mauling you, wasting precious sleep (and potentially ending your run.) A starting base should have a campfire, which can be stone, sandstone, or clay. A Still is the next important part - with it, you can desalinate seawater, providing a renewable water source. Make sure you craft another water container before you build a still, though - without a spare container in your inventory, you won't have any water. When the darkness settles in, it becomes dangerous to walk around at night, as you can't see monsters walk up to you until they're right next to you. Once you have a base set up, it's best to light the campfire, find a good spot as far from the outside as possible, and use your Leaf Bedroll to sleep. If your sleep keeps getting interrupted by shuffling, you may need to dig out a deeper spot to lay your bedroll. Keeping Your Reputation Up By now, you might notice that the negative reputation is creeping in. All the mining and tree-cutting you do can heavily affect your malignity; the earlier you are into the game, the less you want a negative reputation. Farming is one of, if not the best and fastest way to gain reputation. Many plants have visual indicators if they have seeds or crops to harvest - but you can otherwise tell by hovering over the plant and checking if it's in the ripening stage. Ripe plants can be harvested for their seeds, fruit, and vegetables, the latter of which can be dismantled into more seeds. Most mountain areas should have large patches of grassless dirt, which are suitable for tilling. The act of tilling with a hoe and planting seeds both increase your reputation, and with a large farm, your benignity should skyrocket. If you, for some reason, really don't like farming, another option is crafting a Fishing Rod and casting into a nearby water source. Even if you aren't catching Cod, fishing can improve your reputation slightly. A third option is taking some leaves or seeds or fruit and taming some goats or chickens. This not only increases your reputation but also yields useful resources, like Milk and Eggs. Make sure to maintain your animals' trust, or they may become untamed over time. The Second Day and Onward If you managed to make a base and survive the night, congratulations! From here on out, you now have the skills, knowledge, and materials to be self-sufficient. Remember to renew your stills as often as possible, as drinkable water is valuable. You may also consider expanding your farm to keep your reputation up, even invest in Fertile Soil and irrigation by pouring water to make them grow faster. If you want to feel more protected (or just have a bit of food in your pocket), you can craft traps to ensnare small creatures. You can create maps using Paper and an Inkstick, which is mostly for fun, though the Cartography skill may prove useful later... However, Wayward does have milestones and goals. If you're looking to become stronger and progress, you may invest in Blacksmithing. If you find a Cave Entrance, you may take interest in exploring it... Blacksmithing and You In Wayward, there are (usually) six tiers of most tools - Wood, Stone, Copper, Obsidian, Wrought Iron, Iron. Most likely, you'll be ignoring obsidian tools entirely, and if resources are plentiful, wrought iron. The first step of Blacksmithing is making copper ingots. Copper Tools needed to make copper: * A pair of Tongs, * A Mortar and Pestle, which will be used extensively, * A Shovel Once you obtain copper, an Anvil and a Hammer will be needed too. On the surface, some rock or sandstone has white minerals embedded in it. This can either be Limestone or Talc, both of which are required. Both minerals are only going to be used in powder form, so you should grind it into Limestone Powder and Talcum Powder respectively. You might've seen some raw clay deposits on beaches or near mountains. Both clay and sand need to be ground down into Clay Flakes and Refined Sand respectively. Once you have the refined materials, you will need to craft Green Sand. Then, you can craft a Sand Cast Flask, using wood, stone, or more clay. Lastly, you will need to find Copper Ore, of course. Like Limestone and Talc, this is often found on the surface. Once you have all the materials, you will need to craft, build, and light a Furnace. Copper bars are crafted at the furnace. Then, a handful of copper tools should open up in the crafting menu. These tools are starkly better than stone tools, with just the pickaxe having three times the durability (for a total of 150). These steps form part of the process to craft iron bars in the future, such as the furnace, tongs, flask, and powders. Iron Iron requires the same set of tools to craft as copper - tongs, a mortar and pestle, and a shovel. However, sand cast flasks aren't consumed in the copper recipe, saving time in making iron. Iron ore spawns less commonly than copper, but may still occur on the surface. Using a hammer and a lit furnace on iron ore will create wrought iron, which, on its own, is usable in tools. Purified iron takes a few extra steps. Next, you need carbon powder. If you've found Coal ore or fossils on the surface, or you've burned out a torch all the way, you may have obtained Charcoal. Burning wooden materials, in general, typically yields charcoal. Carbon powder is crafted by grinding one of these with a mortar and pestle. Then, you need limestone powder, talcum powder, a sand cast flask, and a lit furnace like before to craft iron ingots. Iron tools, armor, and weapons are the best tier in the game, making you formidable against a tough opponent. The REAL Progress Hopefully, you've trained up your Cartography skill beforehand playing with paper and ink. If you're lucky, you may have found a tattered map or two while exploring the surface or wandering around blindly in the caves. Hold onto these - they're very important. Every now and then, you might find a locked wooden chest. You can try to bust these open with brute force, taking up a lot of stamina and tool durability (but training your Tactics skill quite nicely), or you can craft a Lock Pick and try to open it that way. Lock picking is its own skill, but it's much faster than brute force when you level it up high enough. Try busting open every one of these you see; they often contain cool goodies, like leather gloves (hint: they protect your soft hands!), wrought iron equipment (which can be useful before iron), and sometimes, more maps! Once you reach a point where you think you have more than enough maps, you're probably wrong. Likewise, if you have a high enough cartography skill, you can try to decode the map. It might take multiple tries - don't worry! Failing to decode a map doesn't use its durability. However, if your cartography skill is low enough, the map may be too indistinct to be of any use to you. Avoid using maps below 25 durability, for now, if you haven't explored the world too much. If you think you have most of the world uncovered, though, you can take a chance trying to find the exact location based off the map's decoded areas. Remember, you can zoom out extremely far. At a high enough cartography skill, you can even generalize the location of your target, based off of compass directions and how close you are to it. Once you think you've found the treasure, hit the area with a shovel - it takes one hit on the exact spot! If the treasure is underwater, you'll need a fishing net. Be warned though - uncovering treasure can disturb its guardians, which can range from sharks to slither suckers to demons to a Kraken. Make sure you're properly armed! If you think you've found all the treasure in the world - you're probably wrong again. But if you really want to find out, the last step of the journey is to craft a Sailboat, which, by comparison to fighting acid-spewing demons and shambling giant tentacle beasts, is like lounging on the beach. Once you have all the treasure you need, you can then sail back to civilization. Or, if you want to do it all over again, pack your bags and go sailing to new lands - this generates a whole, brand new, undiscovered island with all the equipment you have. Further Reading * Skills * Fertile Soil * Well * Reputation * Food * Equipment Category:Guide